Saturday night in Skopje

I've been informed by certain people that they are not that interested in the animal situation in Skopje and would much rather hear about my doings. As I always aim to please, I will write about what I did last Saturday evening.

I started by going to a cultural evening dedicated to the sea hosted by the Italian embassy. It was held at the museum of modern art. It consisted of exhibitions of sailboats and stalls hosted by sailing clubs and companies. There was also some food, and some artwork and poetry done by students from the area. And of course there was a fashion show which didn't surprise me because if there was one thing I learned while living in Italy, it is that Italians love fashion shows (please feel free to pillory me for perpetuating national stereotypes). I found it a bit ironic that the evening was focused on the sea, seeing as how Macedonia is a landlocked country; however no one else seemed to feel that way. Anyway, there is sailing in Macedonia, on Lake Ohrid in the south. I hope to go there at some point.

The best part of the evening was getting to see the art housed in the museum. They had closed off the galleries for the evening so most people were not allowed to go in and see the art, but I was with people who apparently have connections and so we got the VIP treatment. Here is a picture of the art museum:

And here is some of the art that was in the museum. You can't really tell what it is here, but it was kind of raunchy:

After the museum, we went to meet some students at a local restaurant in the city park. We spent a while there eating and drinking. The restaurant was really cute and a little rustic looking, with traditional costumes hanging on the walls:

The final stop of the night was a nightclub called Coliseum, a place I hope to never go back to. It's a giant club with three levels located near the train station in Skopje. We walked in, and the first thing we saw was several guys having a fight. The bouncers, instead of ushering them out of the club, seemed to be directing them back inside, which seemed a little out of the ordinary, but there wasn't any more trouble while we were there, so I guess it was ok. It was someone's birthday, so, in my second VIP experience of the night, we were ushered upstairs to a private part of the club. Once there, we sat and listened to terrible techno music and watched girls trying to dance in their 4-inch heels. Here's a picture of the club, taken from the top level:

I know the picture quality is not so great, but I think you can get the idea of how it was. It is my hope that Saturday evening was my first and last time going there.